Can anyone advise about cuckoo marans?

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Can anyone advise about cuckoo marans?

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Boris

Joined: 28 Jan 2010
Posts: 69

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 11 9:58 pm Post subject: Can anyone advise about cuckoo marans?
Hi, I have never kept them before. I am thinking of keeping a few not just for the eggs but as table birds. Has anyone any experience of the best age to dispatch them to maximise their dual purpose potential? Pam

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35934
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 11 10:00 pm Post subject:
darkbrowneggs is your marans woman and I think Pookie has some, too.

Boris

Joined: 28 Jan 2010
Posts: 69

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 11 10:11 pm Post subject:
Thats quick! Pam

darkbrowneggs

Joined: 14 Jul 2010
Posts: 663
Location: Worcestershire

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 11 10:18 pm Post subject: Re: Can anyone advise about cuckoo marans?

Boris wrote:

Hi, I have never kept them before. I am thinking of keeping a few not just for the eggs but as table birds. Has anyone any experience of the best age to dispatch them to maximise their dual purpose potential?

Pam

Hi Boris

Have a mooch round my website www.darkbrowneggs.info which has got lots of "stuff" about Marans on, though mostly about the English Cuckoo Clean Legged ones.

Mine are big birds, and reach about 5 to 5 1/2 lbs + dressed weight in about 24 to 30 weeks. You are supposed to be able to kill at about half that age for a 2 1/2 lb roaster, though I have never bothered

They are fed starter ration till about 6 to 8 weeks, then split from the girls and allowed total free range, but just fed wheat (which is my cheapest option). When they are up to size I pen them for around 7-10 days and feed on boiled wheat and rice.

Any older hens and cockerels make good eating also

Mine are a good laying strain, and of course the eggs are excellent. In their first year they generally lay eggs of around 2 1/2 + oz and I have even had them up to nearly 3 oz (not counting double yolkers! )

I have to say that (in my opinion) they are an excellent dual purpose bird

All the best
Sue

Boris

Joined: 28 Jan 2010
Posts: 69

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 11 10:22 pm Post subject:
Hi, thanks for that, at what age do you think it best to cull the hens to get the most out them eggwise but the meat still be good? I assume older birds get tough?

darkbrowneggs

Joined: 14 Jul 2010
Posts: 663
Location: Worcestershire

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 11 10:56 pm Post subject:

I think anything much over 3 or more years would be pretty tough on the teeth. I always prefer a poached fowl to a roast bird anyway and then you have the benefit of a large pot of lovely stock, and they can be marinaded to tenderize ie coq au vin. Then there is Cockaleekie, etc etc

They can keep laying for quite a while. I was speaking to a man who had some hatching eggs from me the other day, and he said his last Marans had just died at about 12 years old. I said how long was it since she had laid, and he said she was laying the odd egg right up to the time she died.

If you are really looking to maximize egg production then maybe try getting them into lay around Sept / October, in which case you should get some eggs throughout the winter, and then you could either kill them at their first moult (though I think that would be a waste of a good bird) or keep them till they are just about to go into their second moult.

All the best
Sue

woodsprite

Joined: 20 Mar 2006
Posts: 2943
Location: North Herefordshire

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 11 5:50 am Post subject:
Hi Sue, don't suppose you have any pullets or even older layers for sale? I only want one to add some colour to my egg box.

darkbrowneggs

Joined: 14 Jul 2010
Posts: 663
Location: Worcestershire

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 11 9:06 am Post subject:

woodsprite wrote:

Hi Sue, don't suppose you have any pullets or even older layers for sale? I only want one to add some colour to my egg box.

I have got some half grown ones which are a mix of Marans and Olive Eggers, but I normally sell them in pairs as a miniumum so they have a friend when they move, those are £25 a pair.

And I also have a Cream Legbar (one of Pookiecakes) which I am selling together with a Copper Black Marans (I got sidetracked with my breeds, but am getting back on line now

) the Legbar is a good regular layer, and the Copper Black should start to lay anyday now. Those are £48 the two.

All the best
Sue

I am not far from you I think - just out the other side of Bromyard

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